Alexi Casilla Lora (born July 20, 1984) is a Dominican former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

and

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

Playing career

Minnesota Twins

Casilla was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

by the Anaheim Angels in . On December 9, 2005, the Angels traded Casilla to the

for pitcher J. C. Romero. Casilla made his major league debut with the Twins on September 1, , appearing as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and drawing a walk in his first plate appearance. In nine games with the Twins, Casilla was 1-for-4 (.250) with two walks. In , after a brief call-up with the Twins, Casilla became the everyday

after Luis Castillo was traded to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

. Casilla struggled, producing a .222

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with no

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 9

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI) in 56 games. In , Casilla did not make the Twins Opening Day roster and instead started for the Twins Triple-A affiliate, the

Rochester Red Wings The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...

. After an injury to infielder Nick Punto, Casilla was called up in May. On May 19, 2008, Casilla hit a three-run homer, his first career MLB home run against Texas Rangers. It was also his first hit of the 2008 season. Casilla spent the rest of the 2008 season as the Twins' starting second baseman and second hitter in the lineup. He finished the season batting .281 with seven home runs and 50 RBI in 98 games. Casilla struggled to begin the season. After hitting only .167 in his first 84 at-bats, he was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. He was recalled and had a .202 average, 17 RBI, a .280

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

, and a .259

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

in 80 games. He had the most at-bats without a home run in the AL. In 2009, during the 2009 AL Central tie-breaker game featuring the Twins against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, Casilla became the unlikely hero, hitting a game-winning walk-off single to score

Carlos Gómez Carlos Argelis Gómez Peña, nicknamed Go-Go, (; born December 4, 1985) is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Ra ...

from second base in the bottom of the 12th inning. Prior to the season, Casilla changed his number from 25 to 12, giving number 25 to

Jim Thome James Howard Thome (; ; born August 27, 1970) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, third baseman and designated hitter, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 22 seasons (1991–2012). A prolific power hitter, Thome ...

, who had worn the number for almost his entire 21-year career. For most of the season, Casilla switched between second base and shortstop, sometimes filling in for Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who was injured for the first two months of the season. In 97 games, Casilla hit .260 with two home runs and 21 RBI. Casilla made the Twins'

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

roster in 2012 and got off to a relatively slow start in his first 16 games. For the season, he played in a career high 106 games, hitting .241 with a home run and 30 RBI.

Baltimore Orioles

On November 2, 2012, Casilla was claimed off waivers by the

. On November 30, Casilla signed a one-year, $1.7 million deal with a club option for 2014 to avoid arbitration with Baltimore. Casilla made the Opening Day roster with the Orioles in 2013. After Brian Roberts went down with an injury three games into the season, Casilla entered a platoon with Ryan Flaherty at second base. Through June, Casilla was hitting .222 with 8 RBI and 10 runs scored. When Roberts returned on June 30, Casilla's playing time drastically diminished, leading to only four appearances in all of July, and 20 appearances after June despite being healthy. In 62 games (31 starts) in 2013, Casilla hit .214 with a home run, 10 RBI and 15 runs scored. He did not make an error in 170 chances in the field, with 169 of those being at second base. On November 4, Casilla had his $3 million club option declined, and was instead paid the $200,000

buyout In finance, a buyout is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity, or a controlling interest of a company, or a majority share of the capital stock of the company is acquired. The acquirer thereby "buys out" the present equity holde ...

, becoming a free agent. On January 10, 2014, Casilla re-signed with the Orioles on a minor league contract. By April 17, he was replaced by Jonathan Schoop due to his strained

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

Tampa Bay Rays

Casilla signed a minor league deal with the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

on February 2, 2015. He was released on March 31. The Rays re-signed him to a minor league contract on April 9.

Detroit Tigers

On June 29, 2015, the

traded Casilla to the

in exchange for a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

. He elected free agency on November 6.

Toronto Blue Jays

On March 9, 2016, Casilla signed a minor league contract with the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

organization. In 83 games for the Triple–A

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

, he batted .241/.296/.319 with two home runs, 16 RBI, and five stolen bases. Casilla elected free agency following the season on November 7.

York Revolution

On May 24, 2017, Casilla signed with the

York Revolution The York Revolution is an American professional minor-league baseball team based in York, Pennsylvania. It is a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, an independent "partner league" of Major League Basebal ...

of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

. On November 1, 2017, he became a free agent. In 62 games he hit .358/.410/.496 with 4 home runs, 34 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. On February 16, 2018, Casilla re-signed with the Revolution. In 108 games he hit .336/.384/.418 with 3 home runs, 36 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. He re-signed again for the 2019 season on February 27, 2019, and became a free agent after the season. In 32 games he hit .300/.331/.431 with 3 home runs, 9 RBIs and 1 stolen base.

Coaching career

On January 16, 2024, Casilla was announced as the hitting coach for the Long Island Ducks of the

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casilla, Alexi 1984 births Living people Aberdeen IronBirds players Arizona League Angels players Arkansas Travelers players Baltimore Orioles players Beloit Snappers players Cedar Rapids Kernels players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Durham Bulls players Estrellas Orientales players Fort Myers Miracle players Gigantes del Cibao players Gulf Coast Twins players Minnesota Twins players Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third basemen New Britain Rock Cats players Norfolk Tides players Provo Angels players Rochester Red Wings players Salt Lake Stingers players Tigres del Licey players Toledo Mud Hens players Toros del Este players York Revolution players Baseball players from San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic Long Island Ducks coaches